Featuring Zeffirelli's signature lush photography, Brother Sun, Sister Moon was conceived and executed in much the same visual manner as his Academy Award-winning adaptation of Romeo and Juliet(1968). The film attempts to draw parallels between the work and philosophy of Saint Francis and the ideology that underpinned the worldwidecounterculturemovement of the 1960s and early '70s. The film is also known for the score composed byRiz Ortolani. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction.

Following are excerpts from various reviews of Brother Sun, Sister Moon.

Franco Zeffirelli's Brother Sun Sister Moon (1972) is one of the most popular and accessible biopics of St. Francis of Assisi available, and an important exemplar of the ever-burgeoning religion-and-film genre. Despite its thirty-year vintage, it is generating renewed academic interest as a legitimate form of religious expression and contemporary visual piety. This celluloid hagiography was Zeffirelli's first movie following his disfiguring car accident and quasi-mystical recommitment to Catholicism. The critical literature was reviewed and the film explicated through the lens of humanist film criticism. Zeffirelli had constructed the medieval St. Francis as a 1960s hippie and Christ-figure with a strong autobiographical flavour. Yet, this stylistic portrayal did not greatly diminish the historical St. Francis' passionate commitment to nature, anti-materialism and christic holiness. It was concluded that Zeffirelli had successfully repeated St. Francis' 13th century revolutionary message for the 20th century using the popular medium of our day.

Above:Francis (Graham Faulkner) renounces his worldly possessions,much to the shock and dismay of his parents.

Graham Faulkner is fine and gorgeous as the solar brother, Saint Francis. His bright-eyed face contorts with spiritual ecstasy likeHarpo Marxcrossed withSam Rockwell. As the lunar sister,Judi Bowkeris a wispy knockout. She's so frail and beautiful with such long gorgeous blond hair that for me the biggest tragedy of Christendom is when they decide to cut it all off so she can join their muddy little holy order. Would you pick the lilies of the field right in fullest flower? Still, if I came across this nut Francis in the fields outside Assisi, what would I do? Probably join him; lord knows I've joined up with magnetic hippies far dirtier, and for far less noble reasons. Going after God is never a mistake! Following your heart takes guts, and the best Christians are the ones who bow their heads to lions daily. The rest of us forget and run, and are ripped to shreds, lifetime after lifetime.

Brother Sun, Sister Moon is a fanciful retelling of the early life of St. Francis of Assisi as conceived by Franco Zeffirelli. As with all of Zeffirelli’s work, it’s beautifully filmed, but this movie contains a number of “conceptual” shots that attempt to bring Francis’ divine revelations to the viewer in a way which may not work for everyone. Also, if you are the sort who likes to have everything explained at some point in a story, you’re probably going to be frustrated.

. . . Perhaps one of the most striking scenes in the entire film occurs when Francis’ completed church is finally open for Mass and is filled with peasants who are clearly in awe of the poor brothers and their humble yet hard-won gift. Meanwhile, the town’s wealthy nobles and merchants gaze around disgruntledly at their own richly decorated and empty church. The spectacular and often grotesque wealth of various churchmen of the time is portrayed in the film via elaborate costumes, which one of my housemates asserted are historically accurate — massive heavy velvet and brocade robes, incredibly uncomfortable-looking standing collars, and giant, bejeweled velvet letters hanging on chains around the neck, like medieval rap stars.

Francis’ struggle to convince the Church that he is in earnest continues through the second half of the film, culminating in a visit to the Pope, where the marked contrast between the barefoot, threadbare monks and the obscenely overdressed cardinals and bishops is most apparent.

. . . If you’re looking for an accurate historical account of the early lives of St. Francis and St. Clare, this is not the movie for you. Nor is it a scathing indictment of the wealthy Catholic Church; religious dogma does not play a strong role in the narrative at all. Its real value lies in being a lush and artistic (but admittedly not very realistic) portrayal of a god-touched person driven by faith and love of nature to consciously turn away from all that he knows and follow his vision of a spiritually rich life. Because of that, it has potential appeal for monastics of many faiths.

The release [on DVD] of Franco Zeffirelli’s hippified take on the life of Saint Francis, 1972’s Brother Sun, Sister Moon, coincides with the theatrical release ofThe Passion of the Christ. While the latter is a punishing, self-important litany of torture, the other transcends its Catholic specificity to find spiritual truth through humility.

More specifically, Zeffirelli’s film links Christianity with the counter-cultural ‘60s. The movie’s humane take on brotherly love, so generous that it even forgives the Catholic Church, ends with the meeting of Pope Innocent III (Alec Guinness) and Francesco (Graham Faulkner), wherein the Pope blesses Francesco and supplicates himself before him.

. . . The film literalizes (and celebrates) this manifestation of God’s spirit in “nature,” condemning institutional indirection along the way. When Francesco climbs onto the roof outside his window to follow a bird, then goes skipping through the meadows, alive to all of nature andDonovan, our first instinct may be to laugh. But mock this sweet and noble sentiment at your own peril. That Francesco’s denunciation of worldly possessions and unabashed love of love and faith seem corny should make us as ashamed as Pope Innocent at film’s end, when he bends to kiss Francesco’s dirty bare feet. Such love is what is best in man, or so Zeffirelli reminds us.

So what became of the "fine and gorgeous" actor who played Francis in Brother Son, Sister Moon?

Well, according to Wikipedia, after his starring role in Zeffirelli's film, Graham Faulkner "virtually retired from acting. He played a small number of very minor roles, but has not been involved in film or television since 1984. He left acting to find stable employment in order to support his family and has worked for a private British bank."

One minor role Faulkner played was that of the young man caught swimming naked withD.H. Lawrence(Ian McKellan) in Christopher Miles' 1981 film,Priest of Love (right). In this particular scene, set in 1917, two British soldiers accuse Lawrence of aiding German submarines! (Mmm . . . somehow I think he had other things on his mind. Things which, let's face it, would have been just as criminal back then.)

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On September 24, 2012,Michael BaylyofCatholics for Marriage Equality MNwas interviewed by Suzanne Linton of Our World Today about same-sex relationships and why Catholics can vote 'no' on the proposed Minnesota anti-marriage equality amendment.

Even though reeds can symbolize frailty, they may also represent the strength found in flexibility. Popular wisdom says that the green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which breaks in a storm. Tall green reeds
are associated with water, fertility, abundance, wealth, and rebirth. The sound of a reed pipe
is often considered the voice of a soul
pining for God or a lost love.

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